TRASH PICKUP HIKE GETS FIRST APPROVAL

MARGATE -- Residents will pay about 57 cents more a month for garbage pickup, the City Commission decided.

Commissioners on Wednesday approved an ordinance calling for a 3.7 percent increase in collection fees. The new rates will go into effect on Oct. 1. pending final commission approval at a Sept. 16 meeting.

The increase means residents would pay between $7.53 and $8.55 a month for garbage collection, depending on the size of their home. They currently pay between $6.97 and $7.98 monthly.

Emerson Allsworth, legal representative for Waste Management Inc., the company that collects garbage for the city's 41,000 residents, said the increase is needed to offset the rising cost in dumping fees at the landfill in north Broward County. He said dumping fees have increased from $27 a ton to $30.